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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/23401606">Once Again (We Meet At Midnight)</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/superfandomqueen/pseuds/superfandomqueen'>superfandomqueen</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Voltron: Legendary Defender</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Alternate Universe - Role Reversal, Alternate universe - role swap, Fluff, Green Paladin Lance, Hacker Lance, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Pre-Relationship, Sharing a Bed, angst with happy ending, red paladin shiro, smartasses</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-03-30</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-03-30</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-01 06:14:26</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>2,476</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/23401606</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/superfandomqueen/pseuds/superfandomqueen</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>The Green Paladin ran a hair through his curly teal hair. A wry smile pulled at his cheeks, remembering his siblings’ teasing and the disbelieving look on Adam’s face when it had clearly clicked; that the smartass hacker with his dumb glasses, “Lee Santiago” was really the “Leandro “Lance” Braden Abhainn Jose Sanchez-McClain”.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Lance &amp; Shiro (Voltron), Lance/Shiro (Voltron)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>20</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>83</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Once Again (We Meet At Midnight)</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><ul class="associations">
      <li>For <a href="https://archiveofourown.org/users/ashkazora/gifts">ashkazora</a>.</li>



    </ul><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>This is a role reversal AU that I’m fond of and finally got to writing. It is my gift to Ashkazora. I hope you enjoy! (I’m super sorry this took so long!)<br/>Major thanks to lolesky for betaing this for me!!</p><p>The new roles are:<br/>Black Paladin Adam<br/>Red Paladin Shiro<br/>Green Paladin Lance<br/>Blue Paladin Pidge<br/>Yellow Paladin Allura<br/>Prince Keith of Altea<br/>Royal Advisor Hunk<br/>Rebel Veronica</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>Lance pushed his glasses up and rubbed at his eyes, sighing again. It had been four… movements, or whatever the alien -- </span>
  <em>
    <span>Altean</span>
  </em>
  <span> Lance corrected himself-- measured time. That’s what Hunk had said, anyway. Four movements since he, Adam, and three others he had never been close to, took off into </span>
  <em>
    <span>space</span>
  </em>
  <span>. He still didn’t feel like he had gotten his head wrapped around that fact yet.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Shaking his head, he refocused back on the screen in front of him. He was so glad he had remembered to bring his padd with him when they had gone into those caves in the middle of the desert to explore. Who would have thought they would have ended up in a 100 plus meter metal robot cat.</span>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>Pidge still isn’t any better at flying now, than that first time.</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <span>Lance winced, that was mean of him. Considering that Pidge hadn’t ever piloted before, it was him and Allura that were the pilots out of the three of them.It wasn't horrible, even if he really wished that they weren’t all so damn pushy about hanging out together, and the fact that they were also messing with his stuff. He hadn’t known anyone could annoy him so much like his siblings.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The thought of his family had him screwing his eyes shut. </span>
  <em>
    <span>Luis, Marco, Rachel… Mami, Papi... How is... everyone? I’m sorry I didn’t get to say goodbye before I left. Even though you all knew I was searching for answers we all wanted--</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <span>Green pressed against his mind, reminding him that he wasn’t alone. Nodding to himself -- and maybe her -- Lance blinked away the tears that always clawed their way out, whenever he thought about his family. </span>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>I haven’t gotten any leads on Vero or Curtis yet, but I’m here with Adam. We’re okay. Things are weird. </span>
  </em>
  <span>Really</span>
  <em>
    <span> weird. But that kinda comes with the whole “Defenders of the Universe” and “Voltron” schtick.</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <span>Forcing out a shaky breath, Lance tapped on his tablet again and ran his scanner program. Again.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The Green Paladin ran a hair through his curly teal hair. A wry smile pulled at his cheeks, remembering his siblings’ teasing and the disbelieving look on Adam’s face when it had clearly clicked; that the smartass hacker with his dumb glasses, “Lee Santiago” was really the “Leandro “Lance” Braden Abhainn Jose Sanchez-McClain”.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Adam had just rolled his eyes, and promised to let Lance tell the rest of the team the truth. He knew he should tell them sooner rather than later, but how was he supposed to explain it. </span>
  <em>
    <span>Oh, yeah, I’ve been lying to you guys for movements now about who I am. I was a cargo pilot, but I got kicked out for breaking into Iverson’s office, and hacking in his computers for information on the Kerberos mission. Why did I do that,you might ask? Well…. my real name—</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <span>His train of thought is cut off by the chime of his bedroom door opening. Looking up from his seat, with his back pressed against the side of his bed, Lance blinked slowly as Shiro awkwardly stood there.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Out of the three others — Allura, Pidge, and Shiro —he knew Shiro before he got kicked out and drastically changed his appearance. Like, the total makeover was nuts, but Lance figured it was necessary if he was going to find answers that the Garrison wouldn’t give.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Shiro said something. Lance pushed his headphones back — he finally got them back from Pidge, after the two of them had made a deal to share the headphones — so they hung around his neck.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What was that?” Lance asked, blinking slowly. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“When was the last time you slept?” Shiro asked point blank, his gunmetal gray eyes boring into Lance. Lance tore his eyes away from Shiro’s and instead eyed up the ponytail he was currently wearing.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>If Lance was being honest, he couldn't recall when the last time he’d slept was exactly. He was hyper focused on going over the data they had gotten on the mission today. Glancing at the clock on the wall he had convinced Pidge and Hunk with helping him install, Lance corrected himself. </span>
  <em>
    <span>More like hyper fixating</span>
  </em>
  <span>. It had been nearly twelve vargas and he was certain that he hadn’t moved an inch from where he had been sitting.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>No wonder his ass was getting sore.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Lee?” Shiro asked as he stepped into the Green Paladin’s room.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Hmm?” Lance raised his eyebrow, still eyeballing the long hair. When he had seen Shiro that night Adam crashed on Earth, he had barely recognized him. Between the long hair and scruffy face, and what seemed like a crazy level of muscles.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Takashi Shirogane had been his idol long before Lance even sniffed at being in the Galaxy Garrison. He was the Golden Boy of the Galaxy Garrison. Everything Lance wanted to be and wasn’t. Even Lance had to admit he had a crush, and a bit of hero worship going on then.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Then Lance met him. Sure, it was after Vero had gone to the Garrison and brought back a friend for the holidays. Adam West had become part of their family so quickly, Lance felt like Adam had always been his brother, his best friend. It was because of Adam and Veronica that Lance had pursued his dream of being a space pilot with renewed determination, and his hacking skills grew.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>As tough as it had been to get into the garrison, and then moving from home, Lance had Adam and Veronica the whole time. And then Curtis too. All of them were so supportive, and got him to relax when the stress started to get to him.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>It was a few months into the school year before Lance had gotten the chance to meet Adam’s fiance. He had heard so much about him, but he had never put together that </span>
  <em>
    <span>Takashi Shirogane</span>
  </em>
  <span> and </span>
  <em>
    <span>Shiro</span>
  </em>
  <span> were the same person.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Upon finding that out, Lance had squashed his crush on Shiro. It was a dumb crush anyway. Besides, Adam and Shiro </span>
  <em>
    <span>were happy</span>
  </em>
  <span>.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Until that stupid, </span>
  <em>
    <span>stupid</span>
  </em>
  <span> Kerberos mission.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Lance had never found out why Shiro had gone from being the first choice, to being chucked off of the team. But he had been there with Curtis and Veronica, when Adam had told them that he and Shiro weren’t together anymore. That he was going to be the pilot on the Kerberos mission, with Veronica and Curtis. Adam had calmed the three of them down and kept them from doing anything drastic in response.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Well, stopped two of them.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>After hearing about the fight, and the words they had thrown at each other, Lance couldn’t stop himself from going to talk to Shiro. What had stopped Lance from tearing Shiro a new strip; was Shiro’s sobbing. Being caught seeing something Lance knew Shiro hadn’t wanted anyone to see; he had left.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Those same bags under his eyes, that Shiro had for weeks after the breakup, were one and the same as the ones on the Shiro who stood in front of Lance. His own judging eyebrow was raised at Lance.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I asked, when was the last time you slept?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I could ask you the same thing.” Lance couldn’t help but notice the odd purple tint to Shiro’s eyes.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Lance had tried to connect with Shiro after the announcement that the Kerberos team was dead, but Shiro hadn’t let him come anywhere near. And then he was being kicked out and Shiro had left about the same time.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Well, I asked first.” The Red Paladin gave him the half-smirk as he sat on a shockingly bare spot on Lance’s bed, surrounded by all of the junk.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Lance just shrugged in response, now turning back to his laptop. He was fairly sure the other paladin didn’t realize who he was. Despite that, Lance had managed to bond with Shiro in a way that he had not managed with Pidge or Allura.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Maybe it was that Adam had told him that he wasn’t going to get back with Shiro. Maybe it was somehow permission, so that Lance could stop feeling guilty over his stupid crush and become friends with Shiro.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“That’s a shit response.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Lance snorted, typing another line of code. He could feel Shiro lean over and presumably start reading over his shoulder. The Green Paladin raised his eyebrow at his friend. “Do you mind?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Nope!” Shiro chuckled, his breath ghosting Lance’s neck. Rolling his eyes, Lance looked back at his laptop. Shiro stage-whispered, “A-I-K-G-R-H-G-O... um, is that supposed to be Altean or some language I just don’t know?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Ignoring the typos, Lance rolled his eyes again. “Shouldn’t you be in bed?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Even without looking, Lance knew Shiro was wearing a shit-eating grin, “Ya know our deal, I go to bed when you go to bed.” The Red Paladin straightened up and twisted his torso, stretching. “I could train all night.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Clenching his jaw, Lance glared at his friend, knowing that Shiro had got him. He spoke slowly, “The hell you will.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Shiro’s smirk, told him that he knew that he had Lance right where he wanted him. When Lance had made the deal, he was intent on forcing Shiro to look after himself and get him to attempt to curb his insomniac habits. He hadn’t thought about how he had set himself up for Shiro to use his protective habits against him, just like he did with Shiro.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Still, Shiro the shit, leaned forward again, and challenged, “Says who? Your the one still sitting in front of a computer screen and failing hardcore at spelling?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Jerk,” Lance muttered sharply, scowling hard at his laptop. Shiro combed his fingers through Lance’s curls, Lance silently cursing Shiro as he relaxed. Typing quickly, he began shutting the laptop down.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Oh so innocently, Shiro asked, “What was that?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Lance huffed, “Your bed. We aren’t going to fit in mine.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“So we are sleeping tonight?” Shiro’s voice was smug, his hand moving away from Lance’s head.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Move your hand and we won’t be.” Shiro chuckled again, but complied. As soon as the laptop’s screen went black Shiro was on his feet, the laptop taking his spot on the bed.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Up! Up!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Lance wrinkled his nose as he stretched his legs out and lifted his hand up towards Shiro. Making grabby hands at his friend, Lance whined, “Help me up then!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Shiro pulled the long-legged Paladin to his feet, Lance teetered forward bumping their chests together. Blue and gray eyes met, Lance opened his mouth for a snarky comment.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Come on, Adam will kick our asses if we make too much noise.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Lance groaned. “</span>
  <em>
    <span>Díos</span>
  </em>
  <span>, you know he already will.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Well, maybe you should spend less time on your computer and more time training.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Purposely bumping their shoulders as he stepped around Shiro, Lance snarked, “You got your obsessive training, I got my computer.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Shiro snickered, parroting, “Jockwad?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yup.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“If I’m the jock, does that make you my nerd?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Lance spun on his heel to face Shiro as he walked backward down the hall, raising his hands in a shrug. “If you want.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Before Shiro could respond, Lance took off for Shiro’s room, calling a childish challenge over his shoulder, all while dutifully ignoring how the question made his heart do a flip. He could hear Shiro give chase. Lance scurried down the hall, equally trying to be as fast and as quiet as possible, neither wanted to deal with an angry Pidge in the middle of the night, and slid into a stop outside the room. Lance’s hand darted out to press the button to open the door when Shiro crashed into his back. Spluttering, Lance tried to keep his hand over the button to prevent Shiro pressing it.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I want to push the button!” They said simultaneously as Shiro scrambled at Lance’s hands.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Shiro held both of Lance’s hands in one of his own and reached for the door button. Lance wiggled into the way as he kicked Shiro’s shin, smirking at him. Fighting with his siblings over similar things had prepared him for this.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Watching Shiro’s jaw drop as Lance rounded his back and opened the door, twisting out of the slack grip into the room. The 19-year-old stuck his tongue out Shiro. “Now, who’s the rotten egg?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Shiro gaped at him for a moment longer before responding in an just as childish way with a pout and crossed arms. “I am.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yup!” Lance sashayed over to the bed, kicking off his slippers and flopping onto the bed. Turning his head so he could watch a Shiro sulky walk to the bed, his hair escaping from his ponytail and hanging in his face. “What’s the deal with the white streak?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Shiro brushed the aforementioned hair behind his ear. “It’s a genetic thing. My mom had a section of her hair go white when she was in her twenties too, but her sister never got it.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Lance hummed softly. “You should let me braid your hair.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Shiro began unlacing his emo combat boots. “You know how to braid?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yes, I do! I’m a master of many talents!” Lance scooted over, claiming his usual side of the bed. “I’m very good at it! Just—“ Lance cut himself off, he hadn’t ever mentioned his family to Shiro. “—got a lot of hobbies,” he finished lamely.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What’s your family like?” Shiro asked, as if he knew.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Lance let out a shaky laugh. “We’re supposed to be sleeping.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Shiro didn’t let it go. “I’ve never heard you talk about them. I know Pidge and Allura talk about their own families a lot, but you’ve never joined in.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The asshat interfered with Lance’s plan to throw him off by stroking his hair again. Instead of saying “not everyone is into sharing is caring” Lance squeaked out, “It's just hard to.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>There was understanding in Shiro’s eyes, Lance refused to meet them. Homesickness was hard enough to deal with without actively thinking about them, those pieces where Lance’s.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Maybe talking about them would help,” Shiro whispered softly.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Maybe some other time,” Lance whispered back, his throat feeling tight.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>A sad smile ghosted over Shiro’s face before he tucked Lance to his chest, speaking softly about how he and his twin used to mess with people with their identical looks. Somewhere between the two swapping places in middle school, and getting a date as the other, Lance promised just to himself he’d tell the team.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Shiro was trusting him with this, he couldn’t keep lying to him or the others. They would find out sooner or later. It would be best if it came from him.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>With his mind made up, Lance closed his eyes and focused on the story Shiro was telling. Shiro’s voice was the last thing he was aware of, as he fell to the lure of sleep. </span>
</p><p> </p>
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